


blue is my world now i'm without you

by Imagining_Fantasy



Series: the winter festival saga [2]
Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dream SMP War, Father-Son Relationship, Found Family, Gen, Gods, Good Jschlatt, Hybrids, Panic Attacks, Past Friendship, Platonic Soulmates, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Soul Bond, Villain Wilbur Soot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:41:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27554767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Imagining_Fantasy/pseuds/Imagining_Fantasy
Summary: After the Winter Festival, Tommy adjusts to his new life in Manberg. The complicated past of Schlatt and Wilbur is slowly unraveled. Hybrids are a whole lot more than people with cat ears. Tubbo is just trying his best.
Relationships: Jschlatt & Toby Smith | Tubbo, Jschlatt & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Jschlatt & Wilbur Soot, No Romantic Relationship(s), Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit
Series: the winter festival saga [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1998655
Comments: 16
Kudos: 345





	1. Chapter 1

His bed was too soft. 

Everything else in Tommy’s new house he shared with Tubbo and Schlatt suited him just fine. He reveled in the fireplace that warmed the house instead of lava, the hot shower that washed months of grime off his back, and the steady flow of home-cooked meals left in their kitchen by Quackity every morning. 

It was depressing how unfamiliar regular commodities were to him. 

The morning after his first night in the house, he went out hunting in the woods for food. When he waltzed into the kitchen with a dead rabbit in his clutches, Schlatt was there sitting at the table alone. Tommy stood in the doorway awkwardly and saw food was already on the table. 

Schlatt stared over the top his open newspaper and hiked up his eyebrows. He chuckled and said, “I appreciate the effort, bud, but you could’ve slept in, y’know. Leave the rabbits be.” 

He didn’t get up before noon for the next week. Even though laying in his too-soft bed felt like sleeping on an unstable overhang of grass looming over a two hundred block drop, it beat the cold floor of Pogtopia’s ravine any day. 

Tubbo was all too excited to show Tommy every crack and crevice of the city he’d built from the ashes. The city built a memorial for the people who died in the explosion and were still trapped in the lengthy respawn process. For older players, it could take up to months for their code to attach itself to the server again. Hybrids were notorious for taking a long time to respawn since their codes contained a sizable glitch. It was one of the countless reasons why his best friend’s new features made a pit form in his stomach. 

Speaking of new features, he was slowly but surely learning to accept that Schlatt might not be _entirely_ evil, but yet after every smile and thoughtful gesture the man made, he still waited for the hybrid to turn around and beat him into oblivion. What happened with Wilbur didn’t help his long-standing trust issues. 

It was difficult to be at ease around older, taller men, no matter who they were. He discovered this when he started running away from a thin, but tall man in Manberg’s market who was just trying to sell loaves of bread. He pretended not to see the wounded look on his face.

If he told Tubbo his intrusive thoughts, he knew his friend would shatter. The subtle attempts to nudge Tommy into being more comfortable in Manberg and spend more time with Tubbo and Schlatt were hard to miss. 

The last thing he wanted to do was disappoint someone who had already dealt with so much strife and pain, but trust wasn’t an easy thing for Tommy anymore.

Well, if it ever had been easy. Tommy could run away to a monastery to the Sky Gods and heal his broken spirit, reconcile things with what was left of Wilbur, and find a new family in Manberg, but he still had a long ways to go. Scars were far different than wounds, and his soul was covered in them. 

  
\------------------

  
Three weeks after he arrived, Tommy found out just how bad his issues were when one night he woke up screaming. He gasped and shook violently as horrific, gruesome images passed through his jumbled mind, his limbs as heavy as lead. A voice in the back of his head reminded him to call for help, but when he tried to speak he bit down on his tongue as another intense seizure wracked his body. 

It was similar to the breakdown he had in the ravine of Pogtopia. But this time the panic didn’t fade - it accelerated alongside his thumping heart. The room was unfamiliar and closed in on him. The bed was so fucking _soft_. He grabbed the side of the mattress and held on for dear life, waiting to plummet hundreds of blocks to a painful death. 

He distantly registered someone calling his name through his ringing ears. His chest continued to heave labored breaths. 

A few nights before, Schlatt taught him and Tubbo a breathing exercise. At the time, he laughed it off and boasted about his impeccable skills, but Schlatt was smart enough to see right through it. He quickly learned nothing got past the ram hybrid’s quiet gaze. 

Now, Tommy had just enough awareness to start counting. After his third cycle through the exercise, when he finally forced his breathing down to something manageable, his vision and hearing began to clear. 

The first thing he saw was the canvas painting hung on the wall across from his bed. Apparently Schlatt had a knack for the arts and the house was filled with the colorful landscapes he crafted in his free time. When Tommy found out at dinner one evening, he went silent. It was because of a simple fact: _Wilbur didn’t sing anymore._ A bitter reminder of how far his former mentor fell, and a bitter contrast to his new one. 

Sadness replaced his mania, and his breathing slowed.

He realized it was Schlatt who was sitting on the edge of his bed, a warm hand on his back. That explained the voice he heard earlier. “That’s it, kid, let it out. You’re gonna be alright. You’re alright.” 

He rubbed soothing circles on Tommy’s back, just like his son did. Tubbo was a physical person and hugged people whether they wanted to or not, and at the beginning he wasn’t sure if Schlatt was the same way. He watched as Schlatt gave his son high-fives and hugs and ruffled his hair daily. 

He shouldn’t have, but Tommy eventually got jealous. So after two weeks or so of Schlatt avoiding physical contact like the plague, Tommy stopped him in the hall and spat, “if you don’t give me a hug sometime soon, I’m going to _stab you.”_ It was fine after that. Turned out Schlatt preferred boundaries to be explicit. Even boundaries were a forgotten concept to him. 

The moonlight streaming through the window bounced off the hybrid’s horns and cast a dark shadow onto the wall. A stranger might’ve run for the hills, mistaking Schlatt for a demon, but after all the time he spent with Tubbo and Schlatt, horns had become something of a comforting sight to him. 

“S-Schlatt?” he croaked, dry throat cutting off his speech. 

“Yeah, yeah, it’s me. Are you okay, bud?” His eyes shone with concern. 

A glass of water was pressed into his hands and he gulped it down greedily. He exhaled as he wiped his mouth, stress decompressing with his lungs. “I will be. I just... I think I saw...” His voice cracked.

“You don’t have to explain,” Schlatt murmured, deep voice rumbling. “You’ve... you’ve dealt with more than any kid should.” He turned back to Tommy, care flooding his brown eyes. “I promise, I’ll protect you as much as I can. You don’t have to fight pointless wars or... _his_ personal vendettas anymore. You’re a good kid, Tommy. You deserve to have a good life - just like my son.” 

His throat closed up. Everything was still difficult to process. No one had ever unconditionally sworn to help him. It was always a transaction - whether he was giving up his precious discs, his armor, or his fealty. Even Phil, the man with kind eyes who raised him, had to leave to find his own path. Everything in Tommy’s life, besides Tubbo, had left him bitterly, sorely alone with nothing to his name. 

“Was- Was he always this bad?” he blurted. Who _“he”_ was needn’t be said. “I could’ve sworn before he was so different, but after everything... I-I just don’t know anymore. You’ve known him longer than me.”

The ram hybrid paused for a moment, pondering.“Hmm. Here, let me tell a story. Maybe it’ll help.” Schlatt pulled out of the embrace and adjusted his position on the side of the bed. “So, what do you know about hybrids?” 

“Uh, not much,” he admitted. “I know there’s people with a glitch in their code and it’s passed down by their parents. They usually live in cities, right? That part never made any sense to me because they’re animals.” 

Schlatt chuckled, eyes twinkling. “That’s a description I’ve never heard before.”

He paused. “Wait, what’s this have to do with Wilbur? He’s human last I checked.”

“Yeah, he is.” The guardian nodded. “Anyway, Wilbur and I grew up together on a server far, far away from here. It didn’t have a lot of the tension between hybrids and humans, so our parents were good friends. We played together, went to school together - y’know how it goes.”

“I had no idea.” For so long he thought Wilbur and Schlatt were old rivals from some forgotten war or friends who had a falling out, not two people with their lives intertwined since birth. What else had Wilbur lied about?

“Yeah, well, it’s not somethin’ he likes to advertise. At least not anymore.” There was a touch of bitterness. He sensed ragged hurt that lingered after all this time. Schlatt continued after a pause, “When hybrids hit a certain age, they go through somethin’ called a Zenith. It’s when your animal instincts take over your human consciousness. You lose all control. Some hybrids never go back to normal and live the rest of their life in the wild.”

“What the fuck?” His eyebrows shot up. “That’s insane. Why haven’t I heard about this before? Isn’t there something you can do?”

“Of course.” Schlatt held out his arm and pulled back his sleeve. Imprinted on the underside of his wrist was a tattoo in black ink slithering through his skin to form an odd symbol. It was a simplistic drawing of a ram standing on two legs with twisted horns shooting out in a horizontal line. A sun beamed over its head. “Different species of hybrid have a patron Sky God that can facilitate a ritual between a hybrid and a human. If a hybrid chooses a human to bind their spirit to, then safety during a Zenith is guaranteed. But,” he held up a finger, “the bind is irreversible, so a lot of hybrids choose to let fate decide.”

“That’s dumb,” he concluded. “What’s the harm in doing this ritual if the bind doesn’t do anything? I’d never let an animal take over my brain.”

Schlatt scoffed. “You’re somethin’ else, kid. It _does_ do somethin’. We can sense each other’s emotions. And we have an empathetic link. We, uh, used to be able to speak telepathically but... not anymore.” He ducked his head a little.

“Wait, with who? What?”

The hybrid gave him a sorrowful look. 

“Oh.” 

So that’s why Schlatt brought up Wilbur.

“I asked him to go with me to the temple of Khnum when I felt the Zenith starting. It’s where ram hybrids have gone for generations.” Schlatt frowned, voice getting quieter. “He was so happy I chose him. Told me I’d never regret it.”

Holy shit. “So that means... wait.” He drew a shaky breath. “You’ve felt everything? All the madness and- and-”

“Yeah,” Schlatt sighed, “yeah, I have.” 

Now that he knew, everything made sense. The puzzle pieces clicked together to form a depressing picture of reality. 

Schlatt, exhausted every second of every day, as evidenced by the circles under his eyes. His voice croaky every night. He rose from bed like it equaled a marathon. When he spent time with his son, the creases in his forehead smoothed out and a fraction of that immeasurable pain lifted. He always figured Schlatt was stressed out about Manberg and fighting a war, but it turned out all of the hybrid’s pain came from that cursed tattoo on his wrist that linked him permanently to the man who haunted Tommy’s sleep. 

“Hey, stop looking so fuckin’ sad.” He received a flick on the ear. “I’ve been through worse, bud. I can handle it. Listen, I’ve been linked to this guy since I was sixteen - no matter how batshit he becomes, I’ll always know who he really is.” Schlatt gently took Tommy’s hand and moved it so it was over Tommy’s heart. “You’re so much more than the shit going on in that head of yours. Feel that?” His own heartbeat thumped against his hand, steady and pure. “That’s you. That right there. Not this.” Schlatt tapped Tommy’s head. 

He pretended to ignore the mist he saw gathering in Schlatt’s eyes. The hybrid cleared his throat. “To answer your question, Tommy: No, Wilbur was not always like this. He used to write music for the village and plant flowers for his grandmother. And he always had a smile on his face. From what I’ve heard, you saw that part of him when you two met. When I got here, I knew my Wilbur was gone. I hoped exiling you two would somehow make him let go of this- this lust for power. It was a mistake on my end. I had no idea that when I was gone, somewhere along the way, something in him... broke. I wish...” He huffed, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. “I wish I could’ve been here for him.”

After a long, drawn-out silence when Tommy pulled his thoughts together, he whispered, “I don’t think it’s your fault.”

“It’s not,” Schlatt agreed, but the guilt weighed heavy in his voice. “I’ll never lose faith in him. No matter how much he tries to sever our bond, he’s still my other half. Admittedly, I was hoping between you and my son, that maybe there’s somethin’ we can do to help him.”

“I-I don’t think I’m ready to-”

“Stop right there.” Schlatt held up a hand. “I’m not confronting him anytime soon, especially after what he did to you. You two are my number one priority. It’s just good to have hope, kid. Hope for a better day is what gets us out of bed and keeps us moving forward. Things will always get better if we only have the strength to endure the worst.”

A tentative smile inched its way onto his face without even trying. Tommy wasn’t sure how to thank him for everything. But it turned out he didn’t have to.

“You don’t owe me anything, bud.” Schlatt noticed his troubled expression and interpreted it correctly. His right ram ear twitched like it did when he was thinking. “Somethin’ you realize when you become a parent is the world is so much bigger than yourself. You grow up in this little, tiny bubble where you’re so focused on your future that the world becomes background noise. Other people are just characters in your story. But completely sharing your life with someone else? Letting go of your selfishness? To do that you need to pull the frame back again. See the bigger picture.” 

Schlatt smiled gently. “If my life has taught me anything, it’s that being able to live for someone else is the best gift the gods give us.”

He dropped his head onto Schlatt’s shoulders and the man wrapped his arms around him and squeezed him tight. Tears dropped onto his shirt, but the hybrid didn’t care one bit and kept stroking Tommy’s hair and whispering words of comfort. 

He reveled in the warmth of the embrace and convinced himself that, even if it was for a brief, fleeting moment, everything was going to be okay. 

  
\------------------

  
He spent most of his days trailing Tubbo and helping his friend however he could in rebuilding the nation. Most of the basic work like filling in where the explosion hit and fixing the marketplace was done before he arrived, but there were still plenty of people who needed finances, houses reconstructed, or urgent supply requests brought to the president. Schlatt had meager support since his administration was ostracized from the moment he took power. New people were trickling in by the day to fill spots that Tubbo managed by himself for months. 

Tommy knew Schlatt despised how much work Tubbo did. There were multiple times where the father yanked paperwork from his son’s hands in the wee hours of the morning to stop Tubbo from overworking himself. If Tubbo decided on doing something, there wasn’t much anyone could do to stop him, but the father and son were both too stubborn to concede. 

Well, correction, _Schlatt_ was too stubborn. He was indecisive quite often, but once he came to a decision it was absolutely final. 

One time, he tried to convince Schlatt to allow him to go back to Pogtopia. At one point he had a shred of hope that Techno would listen to reason. The pig hybrid rarely acted on emotion, so maybe there was a chance that if Tommy gave a good enough argument, he would abandon Wilbur’s insane crusade. Dragging someone else away from that hellhole would justify all of his doubts about whether or not he made the right decision. He still admired Techno, even if they were technically on opposing sides. 

But Schlatt put his foot down (or his hoof down, if you want to get specific). Schlatt was strict on one thing and it was protecting the two boys in his charge. To put it in his words: “I’m not letting you go near the _greatest warrior in hybrid history_ and risk your life for the slim possibility that he ‘sees the light.’ I simply won’t allow it. Most of the time I’d say you can make your own decisions, but this is fuckin’ stupid.” 

Tubbo, on the other hand, was too selfless for his own good. There was only one thing Tubbo refused to do, and that was refuse to do what he was told. It took Tommy a long time to realize how truly susceptible his friend was to the people he loved, but spending all that time with Wilbur brought a newfound clarity to his relationship with his self-proclaimed “right hand man.”

He found himself apologizing to Tubbo one night after they climbed the tallest hill in the country. It was eerily reminiscent of when the duo stood atop a hill overlooking Manberg during his escape from Pogtopia. 

The festival was over and the city no longer looked quite as magical. It was beautiful nonetheless. Not because of the snow-dusted streets or distant sounds of laughter, but because he saw Tubbo’s touch everywhere. He saw it in the tall arches of the city hall, the redstone-operated streetlights, the bee farms integrated into parks and gardens, and the bright colors of the market. In his eyes, the city was much more Tubbo’s than it was Schlatt’s. And honestly, he was sure the president would agree. 

Overwhelmed by how much Tubbo had outshone him, the only words he could muster were: “I’m... I’m sorry.”

“Huh?” Tubbo’s ears twitched just like Schlatt’s as he turned to face him. “Sorry? Sorry for what?” 

He rubbed back the neck. “I’m sorry for... for never giving you the credit you deserved.” 

Tubbo laughed and Tommy wished he hadn’t. He just needed his friend to accept his apology, not act like Tommy was in the right. “I don’t go around looking for _credit_ , man. I like what I do. Building stuff makes me happy.” 

“But it’s not fair!” he protested. “I run around bragging about how great I am and you stand there backing me up when you’re the one doing all the work. Doesn’t that upset you? Doesn’t that make you hate me a little?”

“What? No!” Tubbo shook his head, eyes wide. He put his hands on Tommy’s shoulders and stared him dead in the eyes. “Some of us don’t want to be the main character, Tommy. You think attention is a good thing, but for me it makes my stomach all flip-floppy. We have different needs. You’re a good friend, man. Stop telling yourself otherwise.” 

He swore he wasn’t going to cry for the second time that week, but he couldn’t help but harshly yank Tubbo into a tight hug. Tubbo was still so much shorter than him, so fragile. Cool keratin pressed into his jacket and, for the first time, it didn’t make his skin burn. He snorted after his gaze dropped down and the boy’s fluffy tail was wagging like an excited puppy. 

“C’mon,” he waved a hand as they pulled apart, “let’s get out of here. Schlatt said he’s making cookies, and you know if Quackity gets there first we’re eating crumbs.” 

“Oh gods, really? What are we waiting for?!” Tubbo bounded down the mountain and Tommy chased after him, laughing as loud as he could for the first time in forever. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh gods, we've really made a mess of things haven't we?

For once, he rose early. The sun shone through his curtains as a sweet reminder that spring was on the horizon. The bitter frost and snow piles of Manberg were beginning to thaw and melt into cool streams of water that flowed through the stones of the cobble streets. 

It was too early for Quackity to be over for breakfast, which meant he had time to burn. He walked the empty halls of the manor, hands tracing Schlatt’s paintings and drifting over dusted-over cabinets. He should really do more to help out. The father and son worked themselves to the bone for Manberg and he was free-loading to the highest degree. He didn’t even wash his own clothes, for gods’ sake. 

Tommy stopped at the entrance to Schlatt’s office and rapped his knuckles on its rich mahogany wood door. If the door was shut, Schlatt was either in a meeting or off on an errand. He’d walked in on one too many important business meetings, so he caught himself before barging in now. 

There was no response. He clasped the handle to the door and it opened with a comforting creak. 

The office was empty yet full at the same time. While there was an absence of people, there was no absence of character. Papers and books were strewn about Schlatt’s desk, some books left wide open with no bookmarks, or torn paper marked his place in them. Cushy seats were placed on the wall across from his desk nestled between bookshelves, where sometimes Tubbo sat reading a book while his father discussed business with a shop owner or council leader. Tommy never had the patience to sit through those things, but Tubbo claimed it was relaxing. To each their own, he supposed. 

The window behind the desk was cracked open, cool spring air trickling into the room. The office smelled of old wood and coffee, something Schlatt downed by the liter these days, which made the tension in his shoulders unravel. This was the room where Schlatt planned to keep him safe, rebuild his homeland, and raise his best friend. A smile worked its way onto his lips.

A picture frame was on the desk, face down. The one next to it was proudly standing up. That was odd. Curiosity consumed him and he decided to investigate.

Guilt formed in his stomach as he inched around Schlatt’s desk, but he hoped the hybrid wouldn’t mind too much. After all, Tommy was always too nosy for his own good - everyone knew that. 

The one frame standing up had a picture of Tubbo on it standing in an orchard. It must’ve been not long after Tubbo’s horns came in, because they definitely looked shorter and blunter. His friend had a bright grin on his face and was pointing to something up in a tree, hair blowing in the breeze. The picture was taken during autumn, as evidenced by the orange and brown leaves splashing across the trees and the jacket hugging Tubbo’s shoulders.

He could practically feel Schlatt’s fondness bleeding into the soft lighting of the picture. It was still strange having someone care about Tubbo as much as him. Gods knew Wilbur never cared about Tubbo half as much as L’Manberg. He was always too wrapped up in, well, everything. 

Tommy slowly reached down and lifted up the second picture frame. He drew in a shaky breath. This one didn’t have a picture inside of it - it had a note. A note written in Wilbur’s handwriting. He’d recognize it anywhere after countless peace treaties and trade deals in that messy scrawl had passed through his hands. 

He picked up the frame, thumb brushing over its black edges. His hands were shaking so hard he couldn’t even read, so he set it down on the desk and leaned forward, hands gripping the edge of the desk so hard his knuckles turned white. 

> _Dear Schlatt,_
> 
> _I can’t believe the day is finally here. You’re leaving this small little town behind to make it big downtown. I always said you’d conquer the world. You’re so incredibly brilliant, and who am I to stand in your way? I’m going to miss you while you’re gone. Try not to forget about us while you’re in the big city. And thank Carson for me, why don’t you? He’s made something beautiful and he never gives himself any credit. He doesn’t have a bondmate to compliment him all the time like you do._
> 
> _Anytime you need me, you know where you can find me. We’ve been through quite a lot together, old friend. But I suppose it’s time we go through a little alone. Maybe I can finally finish that album I always talked your ear off about, hm? Also don’t forget to eat, idiot. Your mum will murder me if you neglect yourself for two days again because I forget check in._
> 
> _Stay safe. And see you just around the corner._  
>  _-Wilbur Soot_

He reached up to wipe the tears off his cheeks before they slipped down his chin. He felt completely and utterly destroyed. What he wouldn’t give to meet the man who wrote this letter. 

The loss of a relationship that was once so profound and healthy hit him like an arrow through the heart. If something that devastating ever happened to him, he wasn’t sure how he’d cope. Schlatt had to live with Wilbur’s pain and regret every waking moment, likely in his sleep too considering how much they were tied together. His respect and admiration for the hybrid only deepened with every revelation.

Perhaps Schlatt wasn’t coping as well as he claimed considering the frame was face down on his desk. Tommy couldn’t remember seeing it before, so it was newly unpacked. He had a vision of a memory unearthed from the depths of his drawers, so raw and nostalgic it caused the hybrid to leave the office in the wee hours of the morning. Or maybe this was so emotional that Tommy was going crazy. Could be either one, really. 

He never doubted Schlatt was telling the truth, but this letter, so clearly written by Wilbur, solidified the new world he’d been adjusting to. 

Tommy eventually composed himself and put the picture back the way he found it - face-down on the desk. Schlatt would find out eventually since his perception was so honed, but at least this way it’d take longer. The last thing he needed today was a lecture, deserved it may be.

  
\------------------

  
It was nearing the time that Tubbo normally got up, so he made his way out of Schlatt’s office and towards the hallway to his friend’s room. Maybe if he was lucky, Tubbo would take the day off and they could visit Niki in the market. He’d heard so much about her new bakery but had yet to go. Clearing his head wouldn’t be the worst idea after the turmoil the letter put him through. 

He knocked softly on the door, hoping Tubbo was already awake. Welled up in his mind like a dam ready to burst was everything regarding Schlatt’s past and Wilbur’s fate and hybrids and Sky Gods and rituals. For once, he needed something simple like a day out with his best friend. 

“Tubbo?” he called. No answer. He tried again. “Tubbo, are you up?” 

After a moment of silence, a muffled cry came through the door. His heartbeat quickened immediately. Tubbo didn’t talk in his sleep. Another pained noise sounded from inside the room. 

His right hand shot down to the door handle and twisted it so hard it hurt his wrist. Slamming the door open and moving inside, his hand instinctively drifting towards his sword.

“Tubbo!” Tommy spun around until he spotted his friend, who was curled up into a ball on the bed. Panic seized him as he rushed to Tubbo’s bedside and grabbed his knee, shaking it firmly. “What’s wrong? Talk to me!”

Tubbo’s hands were covering his eyes and he was convulsing over and over again. His ears were pinned flat to his head in what must’ve been pain. There was no way he was sick since there were no symptoms as far as he could tell - no sweat, no runny nose, no coughing, no fever dreams. 

The longer Tubbo went unresponsive, the more he wished Schlatt was home. 

Tommy clearly wasn’t as capable as he used to be. Not in this world of hybrid insanity and bondmates and descents into madness. 

Hold on. That reminded him of something. Schlatt’s story about his... what was it called. His “Zenith?” He was sixteen when he went through that hybrid ritual thing. And Tubbo was his son... so that meant-

Oh gods, no. It could already be too late.

“Tubbo, please!” His voice fell into desperation as the gravity of the situation dawned upon him. “You need to snap out of it now or you might not ever-”

Hands dropped in front of eyes that were blazing with primal fury. Never in Tommy’s life did he think he’d see that expression on Tubbo’s face one day. 

If it was still Tubbo in there. 

He was slammed into the wall as Tubbo shot out of the bed and grabbed him by the shoulders. The ram hybrid let out a snarl from deep in his throat and shouted enraged bleats in his face. Tubbo’s sharpened claws dug painfully into his arm and Tommy cried out. He had to find a way out of this.

“C’mon, man!” he choked out. “You need to fight back! You know me, don’t you? Don’t you remember when- when we built your bee farm together? I was being an idiot and knocked over a hive on purpose and you cried and cried and I felt bad so I rebuilt it twice as big. A-And-”

Perhaps the lack of oxygen was making him delirious, but a flash of recognition passed through Tubbo’s dilated blue eyes, and for a split second the pressure eased up. The moment of hesitation was just that, though. A moment. The hybrid shook his head and slammed him against the wall harder this time. He wrapped his claws around Tommy’s throat. 

He flailed his arms aimlessly as the life drained from his body. Darkness closed in on his vision. The desperate pleas he cried out did nothing to stop his best friend. Struggling as best as he could, he couldn’t overcome the feral strength holding him down. He even kicked the back of Tubbo’s knee with his heel, but the hybrid didn’t budge. 

Just before he thought it was the end, the hands left his throat. Air flooded his lungs as he heaved in breaths and touched his neck with an unsteady hand. The skin was already tender and would bruise. 

To his surprise, it was Quackity that yanked Tubbo off him and now had the crazed man locked in a hold on the floor. His panicked screams did something after all. 

The vice president looked up from his hold. “Are you okay? Gods, he’s stronger than he looks.” 

He nodded slowly, feet refusing to move. “Y-Yeah, I’m alright.” His voice sounded as bad as it felt. “Where’s Schlatt?”

“I’m here.”

The tall brunette stood in the door with those ever-weary eyes. His gaze dropped to Tubbo and Tommy could see the father’s heart sinking. Considering how awful Schlatt’s last experience with a Zenith was, seeing his newly-found son caught in the throes of it was beyond tragic.

“Khnum’s grace save us,” Schlatt whispered as he took a step forward. “Lift him up, Alex.”

“What?” Quackity hissed. “Did you not see him trying to kill Tommy? He’s going to hurt someone if he doesn’t hurt himself first.”

“Trust me, _mi amor_. This is one of those hybrid things I told you about.” 

Quackity huffed and looked like he most definitely did not want to let Tubbo up off the floor, but he grabbed Tubbo’s wrists and hoisted him to his feet. Tubbo tugged at the grip and aimed deadly ram kicks in his captor’s direction, but Quackity was a better fighter than most people gave him credit for and locked the boy in place. 

Schlatt took a smooth step forward and reached out to clasp the sides of Tubbo’s face with two strong hands. After a moment, Tubbo stopped jerking and his animalistic noises died down. He was not pacified by any means, Tommy could tell. 

Then, something Tommy never could’ve imagined happened. 

Schlatt leaned down so the tips of his horns grazed Tubbo’s. A brilliant, red light passed between them and illuminated the grooves in the dark keratin of their horns. The symbol tattooed on Schlatt’s wrist shone so bright, Tommy saw it beaming under his dress shirt. Both pairs of eyes glowed a bright white and the room titled on its axis a little. 

A voice began to speak but it was layered over and over like when he shouted in the ravine so much that the sounds overlapped. He heard both Schlatt and Tubbo and a foreign entity with a rumble as deep as the sea. The house shook so hard it swept his legs out from under him and he caught himself on the bed. 

_“In the name of Khnum, I revoke all anger. Lord of the Nile, Master of the Potter’s Wheel, preserve my soul until I reach your holy temple. There I shall forge a bond in your name and pay with fealty until death!”_

On the last word, Tubbo’s eyes rolled back and he went as limp as a corpse, and his father caught him with teary eyes and a strangled grunt. He and Quackity made eye contact and tried to communicate how confused they were to each other. That didn’t look like any of the magic he’d seen before. 

Hybrids really needed to put out a pamphlet on this shit, he decided. 

“What the actual fuck was that?” Quackity asked the question he was thinking. 

“ _That_...was the last resort,” Schlatt said. He looked down at his unconscious son in his arms with both trepidation and determination. “Fuck, I should’ve seen this coming.”

“This is it, then.” Tommy moved over to his best friend’s side and pursed his lips. “What you did with Wilbur. He needs to do it now.”

“Yeah,” Schlatt murmured. “Yeah, he does.” They locked eyes and he knew what he had to do. “Are you ready? There’s no going back from this. You’ve seen for yourself how badly it can go.”

“Are you trying to convince me to not do it?”

“No. You’re the only shot my son has now. But I wouldn’t do _this_ ,” he gestured to his wrist, “to my worst enemy. It’s your choice.”

Tubbo snored softly in Schlatt’s arms. 

Tommy put a hand on his friend’s shoulder and searched for a heartbeat. 

There it was. Same place as usual.

Steady. Strong.

“Let’s go.” He lifted his hand and dropped it to his side. “It’s time to right some wrongs.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That two-part thing was a lie, I'm afraid.
> 
> Looks like it's on track to be three! Next chapter will take a bit longer to get out but it'll be well worth the wait.
> 
> Hope you all have a lovely day. Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated <3


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